We have already had a huge number of e-mails and enquiries from fans asking whether we can offer ticket only packages to be sat with the Barmy Army for the 2013/14 Ashes, secondly if this is not possible then requests to find out when tickets will go on sale and thirdly where the Barmy Army will be sat at each ground.

We will continue to update all of our supporters as soon as we have more news but the position as of December 2012 is as follows:

Paul Burnham and myself have met up with representatives of Cricket Australia in London and at this meeting we once again made a request for ticket only packages to be available to the large number of our members and supporters who will be travelling independently to Australia, the large numbers who are experienced tourists who will book independently, those staying with family and/or friends, backpackers, ex pats, those on business wanting to take in the game - all of whom just want a ticket within the Barmy Army area at each match. Our arguments are compelling, we highlight the huge number of Barmy Army supporters who all grouped together on the past 2 tours, in both defeat and victory and how only a small percentage of these had travelled from the UK on official packages, be it with the Barmy Army or other supporters groups. In both 2006/7 and 2010/11 Cricket Australia have refused to offer England fans ticket only packages. We pointed out very firmly that the Barmy Army have played a huge part in keeping interest in test cricket alive and with test match attendance dwindling throughout the world we would ask that common sense would prevail and that tickets could be made available for all those fans wanting to join in with the Barmy Army style of support to be sat together. We highlighted that nearly all of our supporters would attend for all 5 days and it is nearly always possible to group together from day 3 at every ground when the grounds are half full so please tweak your policy to allow us to be able to group together from day 1. We highlighted the English sporting culture is all about sitting together and the cost involved of getting to Australia are now higher than ever before in terms of the exchange rate and if fans cannot group together then there is every chance a sizeable number will vote with their feet and go and support England on other tours when we have none of these issues anywhere else in the world. We also pointed out how popular we were with the corporate sponsors for the atmosphere that we generate and this was acknowledged.

In fairness to Cricket Australia they listened to all of the points that we raised but they were non-committal about whether they would change their policy towards us. They did say that no tickets will go on general sale until June or July in Australia and no decision will be taken until much nearer that time as to whether they will offer a ticket only package to us.

We do not know which parts of the group the Barmy Army tour group will be allocated but if its helpful for those looking at seating plans of each ground we were sat in the following areas during the last Ashes Series in 2010/11. The general consensus was the seats were good ones and we have indicated to Cricket Australia that we would be happy with similar arrangements although there is no guarantee that we will be allocated the same areas.

The only way that supporters are able to guarantee match tickets now is to book a tour through one of the official licensed travel operators of which Barmy Army are one . Every tour operator has to purchase accommodation through the Cricket Australia Travel Office and in doing so they receive the appropriate number of match tickets for each venue. In 2005/6 we took over 2000 supporters to Melbourne and Sydney alone. We fully expect that once again we will be the largest travel operator taking fans to the Ashes as our policy is always to offer the cheapest tours with the most fun and if you have never been on tour before then travelling with the Barmy Army tour group is a great introduction and ensure you are fully involved straight away as opposed to securing a ticket in a different part of the ground with no likeminded individuals around you ( just read other posts to see what we mean)!. It is worth highlighting that each tour operator has to buy accommodation and match tickets packages from Cricket Australiaâs travel partner Cricket Australia Travel office. If you buy a package through Barmy Army Travel then you are guaranteed to be sat in the Barmy Army allocated stands. We do not book the flights so this gives fans the maximum flexibility to set out their own itinerary, all of our packages are for 6 nights with the exception of Sydney which is 8 nights and we know from experience over the last 20 years how popular the back to back tests are over the festive season and how hard and expensive it is to source high volumes of accommodation in Sydney.

I hope this is helpful, we will update everyone through the website and social media as soon as we have more news but we are not expecting to hear anything more from Cricket Australia for several months.

This is a bit odd. I need ticket plus hotel for Perth but tickets only for Sydney and have spoken to Freedom Australia who have put a package together for exactly that. How come Barmy Army / Thomsons can't do the same thing?

This is a bit odd. I need ticket plus hotel for Perth but tickets only for Sydney and have spoken to Freedom Australia who have put a package together for exactly that. How come Barmy Army / Thomsons can't do the same thing?

have a feeling they have done this before, you need to book digs or flights and tickets, sure someone will correct us on this point...

need to point out to cricket australia to watch the highlights of 2010/11 and see how empty the grounds were from day 3 except for the BA... please please let us buy them all in a group, otherwise it will be ticketmaster etc again and then move once the aussie's are being beaten...

new to the forum and planning my first tour after watching the Eden Gardens test. Fed up of being sat at home when I could be there!!

Im one of the many fans who just needs a ticket packages for the Perth and adelaide tests as I already have accomodation there and I really want to be sat with the Barmy Army.

If Cricket Australia do however fall through on this request, how would I go about getting tickets for all 5 days of the perth test and the last 3 of the adelaide test? Would I go through ticketmaster? When would these tickets be made available?

Still thinking about getting the accomodation package with thompson/barmy army as it's a lot less stressfull.

new to the forum and planning my first tour after watching the Eden Gardens test. Fed up of being sat at home when I could be there!!

Im one of the many fans who just needs a ticket packages for the Perth and adelaide tests as I already have accomodation there and I really want to be sat with the Barmy Army.

If Cricket Australia do however fall through on this request, how would I go about getting tickets for all 5 days of the perth test and the last 3 of the adelaide test? Would I go through ticketmaster? When would these tickets be made available?

Still thinking about getting the accomodation package with thompson/barmy army as it's a lot less stressfull.

Any advice from anyone regarding the ticket options?

Based on previous years:

Tickets go on sale first to members of the so-called "Australian Cricket Family" who have an Australian address and can pay with an Australian credit card. If you're not in that position (and don't know anyone who is), you'll have to wait for tickets to go on general sale through Ticketmaster or Ticketek depending on the venue. Tickets for each Test tend to go on sale on different dates. Perth tickets tend to be in particularly high demand and sell out within hours. Adelaide will have an increased capacity this time, and although it sold out last time, the tickets took a bit longer to shift.

Demand last time was as follows:

Brisbane: Didn't quite sell out last time. It did in 2006, but back then Cricket Australia was allowing people to buy 10 tickets each. Lots of Australians took advantage, hoping to sell them on at a profit to desperate England fans, but mostly got their fingers burned. Ticketless England fans reported that they were able to buy tickets on the day off these amateur touts for much less than face value!

Adelaide: Sold out for the first 3 days, but not immediately. Capacity will be bigger this time.

Perth: Sold out within hours.

Melbourne: Didn't sell out, although wasn't far off on Day 1.

Sydney: Sold out quickly, although not quite as quickly as Perth. From what I can make out, capacity will be slightly increased this time.

It should be noted that tickets bought through Ticketmaster or Ticketek are likely to be much cheaper than tickets bought through tour groups. Typically the price of tickets bought as part of a package last time was about 4x the normal public price. This isn't simply a case of tour groups cashing in. Although I'm sure most tour groups do charge a mark-up, it's mainly a case of Cricket Australia cashing in.

new to the forum and planning my first tour after watching the Eden Gardens test. Fed up of being sat at home when I could be there!!

Im one of the many fans who just needs a ticket packages for the Perth and adelaide tests as I already have accomodation there and I really want to be sat with the Barmy Army.

If Cricket Australia do however fall through on this request, how would I go about getting tickets for all 5 days of the perth test and the last 3 of the adelaide test? Would I go through ticketmaster? When would these tickets be made available?

Still thinking about getting the accomodation package with thompson/barmy army as it's a lot less stressfull.

Any advice from anyone regarding the ticket options?

Adelaide: Sold out for the first 3 days, but not immediately. Capacity will be bigger this time.

If the redevelopment is complete in time the revised capacity will be about 55,000.

The ground is being expanded to cater for Aussie rules football. Hope they don't mess up the outfield!

I'm hoping to do Adelaide and Perth. Hoping the increased capacity in Adelaide and the knowledge that we will be handing The Cons their backsides on plates may make tickets easier to come by!!! I certainly can't afford the Thompson packages!!!

new to the forum and planning my first tour after watching the Eden Gardens test. Fed up of being sat at home when I could be there!!

Im one of the many fans who just needs a ticket packages for the Perth and adelaide tests as I already have accomodation there and I really want to be sat with the Barmy Army.

If Cricket Australia do however fall through on this request, how would I go about getting tickets for all 5 days of the perth test and the last 3 of the adelaide test? Would I go through ticketmaster? When would these tickets be made available?

Still thinking about getting the accomodation package with thompson/barmy army as it's a lot less stressfull.

Any advice from anyone regarding the ticket options?

Based on previous years:

Tickets go on sale first to members of the so-called "Australian Cricket Family" who have an Australian address and can pay with an Australian credit card. If you're not in that position (and don't know anyone who is), you'll have to wait for tickets to go on general sale through Ticketmaster or Ticketek depending on the venue. Tickets for each Test tend to go on sale on different dates. Perth tickets tend to be in particularly high demand and sell out within hours. Adelaide will have an increased capacity this time, and although it sold out last time, the tickets took a bit longer to shift.

Demand last time was as follows:

Brisbane: Didn't quite sell out last time. It did in 2006, but back then Cricket Australia was allowing people to buy 10 tickets each. Lots of Australians took advantage, hoping to sell them on at a profit to desperate England fans, but mostly got their fingers burned. Ticketless England fans reported that they were able to buy tickets on the day off these amateur touts for much less than face value!

Adelaide: Sold out for the first 3 days, but not immediately. Capacity will be bigger this time.

Perth: Sold out within hours.

Melbourne: Didn't sell out, although wasn't far off on Day 1.

Sydney: Sold out quickly, although not quite as quickly as Perth. From what I can make out, capacity will be slightly increased this time.

It should be noted that tickets bought through Ticketmaster or Ticketek are likely to be much cheaper than tickets bought through tour groups. Typically the price of tickets bought as part of a package last time was about 4x the normal public price. This isn't simply a case of tour groups cashing in. Although I'm sure most tour groups do charge a mark-up, it's mainly a case of Cricket Australia cashing in.

Cheers for this infomation, helped a lot with my decision!!!

Im thinking it's best to get the thompson package for the Perth test as I couldn't deal with missing out. Rather pay the extra cash. Small price to pay for the experience you get in return.

How quickly do the thompson packages sell out? I see they are on sale now. Id imagine that you buy a place and they issue the tickets when they are released in july. Do you think they will still have the packages available by say may/june for the Perth test??

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere but can anyone advise which grounds sell tickets through Ticketek and which use Ticketmaster please?

Myself and a friend are hoping to go to the Adelaide and Perth tests, I'm now a little worried that we will be able to get hold of tickets for the Perth test as they tend to sell out quickly. We weren't planning to book a hotel & tickets package to save on cost but may need to reconsider. It's a long way to go to not actually make it in to the ground!